Ultra-rare Nintendo game lands on eBay

One of the rarest Nintendo games ever has found its way to eBay and is expected to bring a significant amount of money for its lucky owner. It’s called Nintendo World Championships and if you haven’t heard of it before, there are a couple of good reasons why.

Only 116 game cartridges were ever manufactured, designed for a video game competition that would play out across multiple cities and states in 1990. Of the 116 copies, 90 were of the official grey cartridge seen on most NES games while the other 26 were golden (think The Legend of Zelda).

These limited-edition carts were given away in a separate contest held by Nintendo Power magazine while the 90 original grey carts were handed out to the semi-finalists of the original competition.

The relic up for auction on eBay is of the grey variety and worse more, the original label (with the identifying number) has been torn. In its absence, someone mistakenly wrote “Mario” on the cartridge but rest assured, it’s the real thing according to the seller.

Even in its “poor” condition, the game is expected to garner quite a bit of money. As of writing, the cart has a current bid of $7,100. As Chris Scullion, games editor for Computer and Video Games, points out, it’s like finding the rarest Ferrari but with a scratch. You’d still buy it, he said, as they are considered the Holy Grail among Nintendo collectors.